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June 24, 2005
Virginia Bugs
While visiting my parents this past week I took a couple of pictures that I'm quite proud of. They were taken with my dad's new Nikon Coolpix 8800.
Posted by Thomas at 12:01 PM | Comments (2)
June 20, 2005
Art is Fresh Like a Virgin Slutt
West 28th Street between 9th & 10th - Chelsea
Sunday, June 19th 2005
Posted by Thomas at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2005
I-House Salon - Friday June 17th, 2005
When I first moved here in the fall of 2002, I lived in International House. It's a kind of youth hostel of sorts for students from around the world who are studying in New York. If memory serves me correctly, I lived there for about a year and a half. (It's right around the corner from Manhattan School of Music, where I did my masters.) One of the folks that I've stayed in touch with over the years has been Fernanda Stein. She's a dancer in Brazil. (Oddly enough, she recently met and hung out with my friend Dav, who was visiting Brazil for an extended Sabatical back in March. You can read about their adventures here.)
This past weekend (ok, I'm cheating... it's actually the 29th and I'm finally getting around to posting this stuff and will be back dating all my posts...) was a reunion for all the folks who had lived at International House in the early nineties. Fernanda was one of the coordinators and asked if I'd like to collaborate on on a performance the Salon they were putting together involving alumni. She arrived in town on Tuesday, we got together on Tuesday night and bounced around some ideas, rehearsed them on Friday afternoon in the space and came up with the performance you'll find here. (90MB)
Posted by Thomas at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2005
Ashes & Snow
Michelle and I went to see Ashes and Snow yesterday. It's an awe inspiring collection of the works of Gregory Colbert.
From the New York Metro article:
"Over thirteen years and 33 expeditions (Burma, India, the waters off Tonga), Colbert has assembled what he calls “a loving exploration into the nature of animals in their natural habitat as they interact with human beings.” The people in his work include Burmese monks, trance dancers, and, of course, Colbert himself."
(You'll find an archived copy here.)
The show has been housed for the past month in a temporary "Nomadic Museum" constructed entirely of shipping cars (for the walls) and paper tubing (for the roof and columns) and housed at Pier 54 on the Hudson. The feeling upon entering the space is like being in a church. The center aisle is made of wooden planks, and Colbert's photographs are suspended on either side. The spotlights shining on the photos cast beautiful shadows onto the river stones that are to the left and right of the wooden walkway."
As to the work itself, it's hipnotic. You walk down the aisle thinking to yourself "This is amazing... how in the world did he capture these images? He must have used Photoshop...", only to find yourself watching a one hour film shown at the end of walkway that documents the creation of the very images you've just seen. "Yes, that actually is someone swimming with 3 humpbacked whales with no scuba gear. Yes, that really is a young child sitting serenely while a pack of African wild dogs circle menacingly". The images are other-worldly. It's an inspiring show that leaves you wanting to go out and purchase the "How the heck did he do this?" DVD, which unfortunately doesn't seem to exist. You're also left with a sense of how big this world of ours is, and how much you want to go out and spend time seeing more of it.
Posted by Thomas at 06:48 PM | Comments (0)